Final Thoughts: THE THIRD ACT

Pretend that you have found something of extraordinary significance: an ancient, unknown original work of William Shakespeare. Perhaps it was hidden within an old trunk at a European flea market… something you had found and purchased while on vacation.

You gingerly open the manuscript and quickly discover that this is an enormous discovery! You pass it on to the appropriate experts and they enthusiastically confirm that this is a Shakespeare play that has never before been seen!

Immediately you read through it, contemplating the future possibilities. The first act is incredible as it sets the stage – it’s a Shakespeare tragedy. The second act thickens the plot and interlaces the humorous side characters as only Shakespeare knows how to do. And then you begin the fourth act…

The fourth act?

It appears that the third act is missing! So… What now?

Once again, you discuss the dilemma with the literary experts. They agree: just as a student of Mozart finished his Requiem, so also will the best students of Shakespeare literature piece together a Third Act.

However, due to the fact that this was your discovery, you insist on being a contributor to the Third Act. While there is some hesitation, the literary experts give consent.

The question is this: How will you write it? Will it be exciting to read? Will you stay in tune with the original Author, the original Creator? Or will you try to simply write your own story, a story oblivious to the context and style of the overall play?

How will you write your Third Act?
I borrowed this analogy from youth minister David Skidmore, who brilliantly articulated how God, the true Author, has written a similar play…

Act One: God has set the stage with His Creation, the Fall of Man, the separation of God from mankind, the demonstration of His love and care for His people (Israel) – something we may refer to as the Old Testament.

Act Two: The Second Act revs up the plot and provides the punch with the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Suddenly, Grace busts everything wide open. God introduces His Kingdom, and all people are welcome, are made clean, are made worthy to be reconciled back to Him – provided they believe in His Son!

Act Three: You.

Final Thoughts: Write about this past month. Write about the struggles, the victories, the things that gave you spiritual clarity. Realize that you are living out your Third Act. What will you do from here? Write about your future, your thoughts and hopes of things to come, your new resolutions.

I can’t wait till the End! I can’t wait to sit down with all of you with a big, Heavenly bucket of popcorn and watch the stories of your life.

The Third Act. Will it involve the trials, the turmoil, the miracles, the pain, the joy, the anguish, the deliverance, the providence, the answered prayers, the silent victories, the stumblings, the repetitious sin, the conquerings of Satan, the kiss of betrayal, the healing of the Spirit, the thirst for Water, the divine interventions, the risks, the dangers, the unseen angels, the crys of the Holy Ghost, the ugliness of sin, the boldness of faith, the beauty of feet?

OR… Will it just be a story about your good, safe life on earth?

My prayer is that I not just see you in that place, but that your Third Act is worth the price of admission.

God bless each of you on your journey! In the tradition of Paul’s farewell…

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

Challenge #30: THE HOUR HAS COME

Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee…
(John 17)

So begins the most unique, passionate prayer in the Bible. John 17. Jesus, fully aware of His diety, of His incarnation, lifts His eyes and His voice to heaven and sets free a prayer that resonates throughout time.

Christ is hours away from His final breath. What a privilege we have to know His final thoughts, the words of one of His last prayers!

“I glorified You, Lord, on the earth, having accomplished the work which You had given Me to do. And now, glorify Me together with You, Father, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

The longing to return home is undeniable. Jesus was homesick. And yet, He devotes the remainder of His prayer to His disciples, on the unity that should exist among them – among us. “I ask that they may be one; even as You, Father are in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us.”

He speaks of the world and the spiritual dangers therein: “I gave them Your Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

He then crys out for strength and protection for His followers, that they would stand firm together, stand firm against “the evil one”.

In a yearning for us to experience the same kind of love that God gave Him, He ends His prayer with a hope “that the love wherewith You loved Me may be in Them, and I in them.”

Amen.

The hour has come. Your walk to the cross has led you to this moment – Good Friday. The final challenge is simple.

Challenge #30: Write a final prayer. Pretend this is your final hour. What thoughts come to mind? Who would you pray for? What would you thank Him for? Write your thoughts, but in the poetic form of a prayer. The hour has come.

It is difficult for me to finish. I plead with you to continue living your life with purpose, integrity, authenticity… with grace.

I pray that you continue to walk as though each month were your last.



Tomorrow, consider these final thoughts: THE THIRD ACT

Challenge #29: THE KISS

For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.
(Romans 7)

I wish I could have glimpsed the inner turmoil in Judas. It must have been intense.

Judas followed Jesus for three years. Three years of miracles, teachings, debates. Three years of fellowship, meals, and practical jokes on Peter. He was there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He was a hungry partaker when Jesus multiplied fish and loaves to feed more than 5,000 people. He was there when Jesus healed the blind, cast out demons, turned water into wine. His eyes had witnessed everything, and his heart had felt it all.

Yet, he turned on Jesus. For thirty silver coins.

Thirty.

It’s easy to dislike Judas. He betrayed Christ! And with a kiss!

Judas approached Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Luke 22: 47

A kiss is a universal symbol throughout the world of love, of friendship, of commitment. It has stood the test of time, and even seems to spring naturally from the human genome. But to have a traitor use a kiss to mark his victim stirs a deep resentfulness within most of us. A perversion of something wholesome, something meant to convey trust, love, adoration, peace… for what?

Thirty coins.

I can only imagine the thoughts racing through Judas’ mind. The pounding of his heart as he leads the mob through the garden, the catch of breath upon seeing Jesus. A hard swallow, another deep breath, and he enters the stage with a “Greetings Rabbi!”.

The apostle Paul describes such inner turmoil. In his letter to the saints in Rome, he depicts the conflict, stating “that which I am doing, I do not understand: for I am practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate!”

Think back to the first challenge of your journey – the sin you chose to quit. You may have wrestled during the last 30 days with a similar inward battle – the same kind of wrestling that Judas went through with each step toward Jesus, with the simple peck on Jesus’ cheek, with the weight of silver in his pocket.

How do you fight your battles? How do you wrestle through the good “things you want to do” and the urges to “do the very thing I hate”? How will you continue to refrain from the sin you wrote about in Challenge #1?

This challenge is an introspective challenge. It may be the most difficult challenge of the month. You may write your thoughts, but it’s meant to simply resonate within…

Challenge #29: Drop the silver. Look at the sin you had resolved to stop for 30 days in Challenge #1 and decide now to stop... indefinitely. You will undoubtedly wrestle with the temptation again, the urges to do wrong, the convictions to do good, the personal gain, the falsification of a kiss… How will you fight through it? Choose now, perhaps for the rest of your life, to let go of that one particular sin.

We have, and most likely will, betray Christ again. But give God praise for the Sacrificial Lamb, the One who takes our betrayals upon Himself, and offered Himself up as a sacrifice, canceling the debt.

To forgive us. To clean us up. To allow another day of life with Him.



We have one last challenge. One last thing to do.
Find out tomorrow with Challenge #30: THE HOUR HAS COME